RESIDENCE (DORMITORY)

A residence is essentially a student dormitory. It usually belongs to a university, a language school or a private company. It is the most common option for students aged 17 and over, as well as for adults. If a boarding school is about childhood and discipline, a residence is about youth, socialising and your first taste of independent living.

Who lives there?
Mostly students on language courses (aged 18 to 30), students on preparatory programs (Foundation, Pathway) and university students. Between 20 and 80% of first-year students live in university dormitories — in the USA, for example, the figure is over 80%. In Europe the numbers are more modest: in Germany only 13% of students live in dormitories, simply because there aren't enough of them. The rest rent rooms. On short-term language courses (2–4 weeks), however, residences are one of the most popular options: up to 40% of students choose exactly that.

What is life like there?
Rooms accommodate between 1 and 6 people. The more people, the cheaper it is. Budget options have bunk beds, while pricier ones have regular beds. The shower and toilet are either in the room (en suite) or shared on the floor. In the hallway there is a kitchen (shared between 5–15 rooms), a lounge with sofas, a TV and sometimes a table-tennis table. The laundry is usually in the basement or on the ground floor, and the washing machines are paid (1–3 euros per cycle). Wi-Fi is available everywhere. Supervision is minimal. A warden may sit at the reception, and there is security at night. But no one checks whether you came back at two in the morning, and no one looks into your room. Students are responsible for their own cleaning, laundry and food shopping (if there is no canteen). Some residences have a shared canteen, in which case meals are included — but more often than not there isn't one, just a kitchen for cooking your own meals.

Advantages. A convenient location — you can usually walk to your school or university. Socialising — with neighbours from different countries it's easy to make friends. You learn independence — doing laundry, cooking, budgeting. And you don't have to deal with a rental agreement and a deposit (as you would in a rented flat). Residences often host shared activities — movie nights, language clubs, excursions.

Disadvantages. Little personal space — even in a single room you constantly hear your neighbours. Shared kitchens can be dirty — not everyone washes up after themselves. Noise at night — someone is celebrating a birthday, someone is watching a film at full volume. No oversight — if you lack self-discipline, it's easy to let your studies slide. And one more thing: some residences have very strict rules (for example, no guests after 10 p.m.) — which annoys adult students.

What's interesting in different countries.

• Germany and Austria. Here dormitories (Wohnheim) are often built as entire neighbourhoods — «student villages». They have their own shop, gym, laundry and sometimes even a bar. You can also find dormitories where students live alongside elderly people or young families. The student helps with the household chores or simply keeps them company — in return they pay a reduced rent.
• United Kingdom. At universities, dormitories are divided into «catered halls» and «self-catered» ones. The former have a canteen with three meals a day, the latter have a shared kitchen. In Oxford and Cambridge the residences are housed in historic buildings — sometimes without a lift, with the bathroom on the floor. But they have grand dining halls adorned with paintings from centuries past. The warden might be a professor who dines with the students. At the newer universities (from the 1960s) the dormitories look like ordinary high-rise blocks.
• USA. American dormitories are a culture of their own. Most often the rooms are doubles, with a bathroom shared between a block (2–4 rooms). On each floor there is a «resident assistant» (RA) — an upperclassman who keeps order and organises meetings and events. The laundry rooms are in the basement. There are huge shared lounges with gaming consoles and pool tables. There is a tradition of «floor dinners» and competitions between floors. But the rules are strict: alcohol is forbidden, and guests of the opposite sex don't stay overnight.
• France. The Cité internationale universitaire de Paris is a unique campus where each building is built in the architectural style of a particular country (a Japanese house, a Latin American one, an Armenian one). It is home to 12,000 students from all over the world. In ordinary French dormitories (CROUS) the rooms are small (9–12 sq. m), often with a shared kitchen on the floor, and the shower and toilet in the room. Prices are low (the state subsidises them). But getting a place is difficult — the waiting list runs to several months.

Who is it for?
Adult students aged 17–18 and over who are already ready to live without constant supervision. It's excellent for your first year abroad — you don't have to think about a rental agreement, and everything is close at hand. It is not suitable for children under 15 (too little oversight) or for very introverted people who find it hard to share space with others.

A non-obvious fact. Research shows that students living in dormitories on average study better than those living at home or in rented flats. The reason — the library is nearby, you can study in groups, and you don't have to spend much time commuting. At the same time, the risk of being expelled is higher for those who can't keep themselves in check: it's easy to start going out every night and neglect your studies. So a residence is an amplifier: good habits get better, bad ones get worse.